3722

BIT ERROR RATE CHARACTERISATION AND MODELLING

FOR GSM.
J.Pons and J.Dunlop
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde
Glasgow GI 1XW. Scotland
jpons @comms.eee.strath.ac.uk

ABSTRACT. This paper presents a method to model the

bit error rate in GSM, taking as inputs the carrier to
interference ratio and the speed. The procedure is based
on a characterisation of the bit error rate second order
statistics. Then, a technique which allows matching of
both probability distribution and auto-correlation
functions is applied in order to obtain replicas of the bit
error rate sequence. A method to obtain results for any
carrier to interference ratio and speed is then proposed,
based on linear interpolation. The results are compared
to the output of full transmission chain simulation,
showing that a good degree of accuracy is achieved,
while the simulation time is drastically reduced.

local CIR onto bit error probability for each burst, and
the mean and standard deviation of the BER of the bursts
of the frame are utilised to obtain the FER, using a
second look-up table. In [2] a similar approach is
reported. It takes into account whether the RSS is in a
fade or not and the depth of the fade in order to extract a
burst BER estimate using a set of lookup tables. The
standard deviation of the BER in the bursts of the frame
is used to extract a link gain. It should be noted that both
approaches intend to extract conclusions at system level,
using the link level as a source of information. Hence,
the time-distribution of the BER sequence bas a limited
influence in the final result.

I. INTRODUCTION

The interest in this paper is centred on the use of system

simulation results as an input to a link level simulator in
order to test the performance of link adaptation
algorithms. These algorithms intend to assess the inservice link quality and react when bad channel
conditions occur, triggering a change on the source+
channel coding scheme [3,4,51. In [6] it was shown that
the bit error rate at the input of the channel decoder,
which provides a good estimate of the link quality, can
be extracted from the GSM transmission chain using a
set of channel heuristics. The performance of a bit rate
based link adaptation algorithm is assessed in [7].

To evaluate the performance of mobile radio systems, a

division between the system level model and the link
level model is usually established. The former considers
the network layout, mobility and interference
relationships giving, as an output, the carrier to
interference ratio (CIR). The latter extracts bit error
patterns for a given mean carrier to interference ratio,
giving as an output the bit error rate at the input of the
channel decoder (BER), and the frame erasure rate
( E R ) and residual bit error rates (RBER) at the output
of the channel decoder.
Several references report how the results obtained from
link level and system level can be merged. In [I] an
approach that includes the fast fading within the system
level simulator is presented. A look-up table maps the

In order to investigate link adaptation algorithms, the

number of bit errors in each burst needs to be extracted
for varying CIR conditions in a number of interference
scenarios. The time properties of the BER sequence have
a major impact on the performance of these algorithms.
DECODER &

r-l
MODULATOR

7
I
FILTER

Noise

Cochannel
interference

Figure 1. GSM transmission chain model.

0-7803-4984-9f98/$10.00 0 1998 IEEE.

CORRELATOR

3723

Link level simulations are expensive both in time and

memory. This paper presents a synthetic metbod which
simplifies the extraction of link level results, while
matching the time properties of the BER sequence. For
that purpose, a characterisation of the number of bit
errors per burst is carried out for a numbcr of scenarios,
and the results extracted are used to implement a model
which ensures that the second order statistics of the bit
error sequence are kept. The method reduces largely the
penalty time of full link level simulations, allowing a
statistically accurate analysis of the performance of link
adaptation algorithms

11. GSM TRANSMISSION CHAIN MODEL

Link level simulations have been performed using the

COSSAP simulation tool. Figure 1 plots a schematic of
the model that bas been implemented. Co-channel
interference plus thermal noise are modelled, the
cochannel interference being produced by a single strong
interferer whose signal is uncorrelated with the reference
signal. This follows the reference testbed reported in [8].
The GSM typical urban channel model is considered.
GMSK modulation is applied. The demodulator consists
on a bandpass filter, a correlator, and a 16-state Soft
Viterbi Equaliser. The correlator produces a channel
estimate using the knowledge of the training sequence
bits. This estimate is used to help decode the data bits of
the burst. The algorithm used for decoding is based on
the Euclidean Distance, trying to minimise the metric
difference between the received signal and all possible
transmitted reference signals. The Viterbi algorithm is
based on a recursion over the accumulated Euclidean
Distance for each of the 16 equaliser states. An equaliser
state is represented by the history of the previous
transmitted 5 hits.
The bit error rate is defined at the output of the burst
dehuilder. Hard decision bits are considered for the
results presented in this paper.

111. BIT ERROR CHARACTERISATION

Within this analysis the effect of fading is analysed. The
mean ClR is kept constanl over the duration of each
simulation, that is 4 . lo6 bits, i.e. around 35000 bursts.
The analysis bas been canied out using gnu Octave. The
bit error rate is defined in a burst by burst basis, i.e. it is
equal to the number of bit errors in the burst divided by
the total number of data bits in the burst, that is 114.

0.5
- 50 kmlh

.. 5

kmlh

0.4 -

0.3

y
-

.~ .~
O i T

20

-5 dB
,

, . ,

. , . x
~. ~ . , , . . . . ~
, . .. ~
~

40
60
80
bit position in the burst

100

114

Figure 2. Distribution of the errors in the burst.

2.) Probability distribution of the bit error rate
The BER probability depends on the CIR and the speed.
Figures 3 and 4 plots the BER probability distribution for
speed 5 !un/h. The former shows thc distribution for
BER values bigber than 0, i.e bursts with errors. The
latter shows the evolution of the probability of having a
burst without any errors.
Probability

0.05
0.04

0.03

0.02
0.01

0
1

1.) Distribution of the errors in the burst

Figure 2 plots the probability of hit error vs. the hit
position in the bursts for a set of CIR values and speeds 1
km/h and 50 kmm.I t can he appreciated that the bit
error probability is uniformly distributed in the burst for

'0

CIR [dB1

BER

Figure 3. BERprobabiJity distribution for BERM

3724

Probability

3.) Auto-correlation of the bit error rate.

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2
0.1

do

io

.I<

0
CIR [dB]

PO

10

30

The auto-correlation function depends on the CIR and

speed. The normalised auto-correlation function of the
BER is plotted in figure 7 for speed 5 W. The
correlation function presents an oscillation whose
maxima are separated by distance related to the duration
of the multipath fades. The auto-correlation functions for
the same CIR value and different speeds are just scaled
versions of the same function, the scaling factor being
the ratio between speeds. This can be seen in figure 8,
which plots the correlation functions for a CIR of 3 dB
and different speeds.

Figure 4. Probability of BER = 0

Correlation
0

0 0.041
.~~~1

- 1 kmlh

0.0350.03-

0.0250.02-

0.5

0
0

TCH/FS

Figure 7. BER normalised auto-correlation.

Correlation

1 kmlh

1 kmlh ; scaled in x by 112

0.1

TCHIFS bursts

Figure 8. Auto-correlation vs. speed.

3725

IV. BIT ERROR RATE MODELLING

The hit error rate characterisation that has been carried
out can be used to produce a simplified BER model. The
aim is to ensure that the second order statistics of the
model follow the ones of the BER sequences extracled
from the complete simulator. Hence, the probability
distribution function and the auto-correlation function are
to be matched. The probability distribution indicates the
values that can he expected for a given CIR and speed,
while the auto-correlation keeps the time information, i.e.
the dependence between samples separated by a given
delay.
The method used to match the probability distribution
and auto-correlation function of the sequences is reported
in [9]. In this reference gaussian white noise driving a
filter which maps the autocorrelation function plus two
non-linear transformations are applied.
A schematic of the method is plotted in figure 9. The
filter frequency response is obtained from the correlation
function, as in a Moving Average model. The first
transform function is a gaussian cumulative distribution
function, which transforms the output of the filter onto a
uniformly distributed variable, with values between 0 and
1. The second transform function is the inverse of the
desired cumulative distrihution function. Hence the final
output variable matches the desired distribution. The
correlation between samples is reduced within the nonlinear transformation process, being finally around 0.9
times the original correlation, as matched by the filter.
The method is explained in more detail in Appendix A.

the desired CIR sample is then used. It was shown that

the auto-correlation function depends on the CIR value,
being a scaled version according to the speed. In order to
obtain the correlation function for a speed not included
in the set, the correlation function for the closest lower
speed is scaled and then the corresponding filters are
extracted.
Secondly, the non-linear transformation which matches
the desired probability distribution depends both on CIR
and speed. For a given speed, the transformation is a 3
dimensional function, which produces a value of z given
U and CIK Thus, in order to achieve the BER value
using the grid of data available, a 3-dimensional linear
interpolation is applied. The algorithm is included in
[lo].
The interpolation process adds some degree of error. In
any case, the results obtained are promising. As an
example, figure 10 shows the auto-correlation and
probability distribution functions observed for a speed of
6 km/h and a CIR of 4 dB, values which are not included
in the original grid. 150 coefficients are used in the filter.
The results obtained are compared to the output of a full
link level simulation configured with these values. It can
be seen that the degree of accuracy is good. There is a
deviation of the probability distribution due to the linear
interpolation, which could he improved increasing the
number of points to interpolate between. The output
sequence characteristiques can also be improved using
post-filtering. The results obtained are better for high
CIR values and high speed.
Finally, the model needs to be able to follow a dynamic
CIR input. In order to do that a white gaussian noise
sequence with the desired length, x, is produced. Then,
the value of each sample of the correlated sequence, y . is
extracted by applying the FIR filter which corresponds to
the CIR value associated to that sample to the
appropriate values of x. Finally, the tranformations which
match the probability distribution are applied sample by
sample to y applying the 3-dimensional interpolation
procedure.

I-

Figure 9. Auto-correlation + distribution model

Only a limited set of speed and CIR values was analysed
using the link level simulator. In order to extract BER
sequences for configurations that are not included in that
set, a interpolation procedure is applied.
Firstly, auto-correlation functions were obtained for a
range of CIR values. Spline interpolation is used to
obtain correlation functions for a 1 dB CIR grid. The
correlation function corresponding to the integer value of

Special scenarios, like the application of discontinuous

transmission (DTX) or frequency hopping (FH) require
an specific setup for the choice of correlation filters. For
DTX, samples after the end of a talk spurt are
uncorrelated. For FH, all the samples tend to be
uncorrelated, in a degree which depends on the number
of frequencies to hop between.
Several tests were performed in order to compare the
outcome of the full simulator and the results produced by
the model. Figure 11 plots a test example. The input CIR
sequence was obtained using an event-driven sirnulalor,
for an urhan scenario with cluster size 413 and mean
speed 5 kmm.The results obtained from a full link level

3726

simulator are compared to the output of the model for the

same CIR sequence. The outcome is plotted in figure 11.
C v m u l a f i v e distribution

khytes, and around 500 flops per sample are required.

Nevertheless, 100000 samples are achieved in a few
minutes, in front of more than 5 hours for the full link
level simulator in the same computer. Taking into
account the speed and final accuracy of the model, its
application may be considered as highly justified.

.. P i m Y l a i O i

CIR [dB]

35

-model

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2
0.1

0
0.4

0.2

0.5

0.8

BER
CDrrelatlon

50

100 150

200

250 300 350

semnds

400

450

C u m Ylative d i s t r i b u t i o n

0.5
1

0.5
0.4

0.95

0.9

..simulator

0.85

model

0.8
0.5

0.45

0.75

0.2
0.4

0.35 .

.. s i m

0.3

0.25
0.2

0.1

"lafor

Probability

0.4

0.35

.
~

0.05 .
r

.~

-0.2

0.8

0.8

model

0.15

0.4
BER

-0.1

0.1

0.2

0.25
0.3

..simulator

model

0.1

duration over BER threshold=0.10 [bursts]

Figure 11. Comparison for dynamic CIR,

I
i

3727

V. CONCLUSIONS
A method for modelling bit error rate in GSM for
dynamic carrier to interference conditions and variable
speed has been presented. It starts from a set of
simulations required to characterise the bit error rate
sequences, which are extracted using a full GSM
transmission chain simulator.
The model matches the probability distribution function
and auto-correlation function observed in these
sequences. It is composed by a FIR filter driving a white
gaussian noise, which matches the desired autocorrelation function at its output, and two non-linear
transformations that match the desired probability
distribution. An interpolation procedure is presented
which allows modelling values outside the grid and
modelling dynamic CIR interference scenarios.
Results show that the modelling techniques applied
exhibit a high degree of accuracy, ensuring that the
second order statistics of the sequences produced
approach those of thc output obtained from the full link
level simulator, while the simulation time is largely
decreased. Therefore the model can be applied to study
the performance of link adaptation algorithms, while
ensuring the statistical accuracy of the results obtained.

APPENDIX A.
AUTO-CORRELATION + DISTRIBUTION MODEL.
The model is composed by a FIR filter driven by white
gaussian noise x, and two non-linear transformations.
The filter is chosen so that the auto-correlation fn. of its
output approaches the one of the source sequence s.
Hence the filter impulse response is obtained as:
s[i]. s[i - n]

Rs[n]=
i=l.N-n

n < Ndecorrel

(N-4

where N ,Ndecorr and Nflter are chosen observing the

shape of the corresponding signals, and regarding the
limits in the complexity of the model in terms of the
length of the filters. Due to .the simplifications
incorporated, some error is produced. The white gaussian
sequence x drives the filter defined by h[n] giving y.
The second step is to fix the cumulative distribution
function of the desired signal. The sequence y is a
filtered gaussian noise, and therefore its pdf is gaussian.
Two non-linear tlansfonnations are applied to y in order
to transform the gaussian pdf into the desired pdf.

u=F,(y)

; z=q(u)

Where Fy() is the cumulative distribution function of

the gaussian variable y. Therefore U is uniformly
distributed in [0,1]. Fi(.) is the inverse of the
cumulative distribution function of the source sequence
s. Therefore thc sequence z has the same distribution as
the sequence s. These non-linear transformations cause a
reduction of the auto-correlation that is in the order of
0.8-0.9. This effect can he compensated iteratively, by
windowing the original correlation function.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors aknowledge the support of the United
Kingdom EPSRC in this work.

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Kronestedt, Improved interface between link level
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[2] J Wigard, T Nielsen, P Michaelsen, P Mogensen,
BER and FER prediction of control and traffic
channels for a GSM type of &-interface Proc.
IEEE VTC98, Ottawa, pp. 1588-1592.
[3] J Pons, J Dunlop, J Kelliher, On the application of
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[SI 0 Carhun, M Almgren, K Svanhro, Capacity and
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